Articles - Life Synergy

Queenstown is outperforming the rest of the country environmentally according to latest research from the Regional Visitor Monitor.

Sixty-five per cent of visitors have rated the resort’s overall environmental performance as ‘ahead of most others’, compared to the national benchmark of 43 per cent. And 97% of visitors to Queenstown believe our environmental performance is better than or equal to others.

The RVM is a joint quarterly survey initiative between the Ministry of Tourism, Tourism New Zealand and six of New Zealand’s largest Regional Tourism Organisations.

Destination Queenstown CEO Tony Everitt says the research provides valuable insight into visitor expectations and satisfaction in the region.

“The research shows ‘beautiful scenery’ remains the most important expectation of visitors to Queenstown and this emphasis is at least 25 per cent higher than for the other regions. Undoubtedly our pristine alpine environment is our competitive advantage,” he says.

“It’s fantastic to see that despite this continued raising of the bar Queenstown’s perceived environmental performance is once again exceeding national benchmarks. There is no room for complacency however so it is also pleasing to note that many local tourism businesses are working through programmes like Green Globe, Qualmark Green, and Sustainable Tourism Advisors in Regions (STAR) to further lift their sustainability game.”

1 March, 2010 Recycling in Remote Milford Sound

Recycling has become a reality in remote Milford Sound in a bid to cut rubbish heading to the landfill by 75 percent.

The scheme has been launched by the Milford Sound Development Authority Ltd and has been welcomed by tourism operators in the area.

Up to 400 tonnes of rubbish is shipped out of Milford annually to the Southland District Council landfill.

MSDA Operations Manager Andrew Welsh, said within the next 6 months the aim was to achieve a 25% reduction in waste heading to the landfill.

“By April 2011 we hope it will be reduced by as much as 75%,” he said.

“The initial scheme starts today (March 1st ) and involves the major cruise companies including their residential areas, the café and pub.

“Three recycling stations are being set up and operators will sort their waste into plastics, metals, glass, cardboard and paper, and green waste such as food scraps.

“MSDA currently collects rubbish from 90% of the village. Initially the recycling scheme will be developed for those people although it is envisaged that that this will eventually spread to the rest of Milford Sound such as Deepwater Basin operators and fishermen,” Mr Welsh said.

“The recycled materials will be purchased by Southland Enterprises and the aim is to eventually run the scheme on a cost neutral basis with the income from the recyclables covering the cost of transporting them to Invercargill,” he said.

Milford’s largest tourism company Real Journeys which operates day and overnight cruises is delighted to see the scheme introduced.

Operations Manager Angus Small, said the move complements steps already taken by Real Journeys including the use of recyclable picnic boxes with unbleached recyclable napkins on its vessels.

“We have recycling stations on all our vessels including the Milford Mariner, Milford Wanderer and MV Sinbad for our customers in public areas as well as systems in place in the staff-only areas such as the galleys. We also use re-usable, washable obento (Japanese) lunch boxes on our cruises to reduce waste.“This is a great step forward for Milford Sound and all our staff are embracing the initiative,” Mr Small said.